“’When the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.’ Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.” Christ’s Object Lessons, page 69.
In our previous devotional we learned that previous paragraph to the one quoted above talks about the fruit of the Spirit listed in Gal. 5:22, 23. So manifesting the fruit of the Spirit has something to do with reproducing the character of Christ in us. How do we do that?
John chapter 15 talks about Jesus being the vine and we the branches. In order for us to bear fruit we must be connected to the vine. John, quoting Jesus, calls it abiding in Him. I encourage you to study the first eleven verses of John 15.
“The life of the vine will be manifest in fragrant fruit on the branches. ‘He that abideth in Me,’ said Jesus, ‘and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.’ When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing. Desire of Ages, pg. 676
Verse 10 of John 15 says, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” So the character of Christ was to keep His Father’s commandments and abide in His love. You notice that the first part of the verse says we are to do the same.
In the next several devotionals we’ll discuss the various fruit of the Spirit and how Jesus manifested them, thus giving us an example how we are to manifest the fruit of the Spirit.
Father in Heaven, I pray that You would fill me with Your Holy Spirit today that I may manifest the fruit of Your Spirit—not one missing. In the holy name of Your Son Jesus, Amen.
